Spiritual Blockages to hearing God

June 20, 2004

Personal Narrations

Joel Akin

Calgary, Alberta

One of the signs of intimacy with God is that you can hear his voice. So it does become very discouraging when that relationship is blocked. Over the last six months I have come to realize that whenever His voice is stopped it is not because God has suddenly grown tired of talking with me. I know that after I had discerned the reason for one of the blockages I asked God, "Is there ever a time when you don't speak to me?" His answer greatly encouraged me. "There is never a time when I do not speak to you and I am always here for you."

 So why do blockages come? The answer was, "There is always something on your side that is blocking your hearing."

 Now one would think that after all these months I would be able to figure out all the blockages but I haven't. For example I am in a period of SB now where I cannot hear God clearly. Now maybe some might be happy with hearing God half the time but I'm not. Once you've had that close relationship you don't want anything else. After all not everyone thinks or acts like God. When you talk to Him its like talking to the best friend you can imagine, always positive towards you when you are genuinely seeking. So tonight I thought I would mention just a few of the SB I have learned.

Pain

 Now there are different levels of pain. Immediate pain which comes and goes away quickly such as a stubbed toe. There is the pain of Reflux. Those of you who have had it know the burning pain can last for hours and is more severe at first but gradually fades away. And so we go on with different levels until we reach chronic, severe pain. This pain often varies in intensity and duration. I think of it as a storm that can last for hours or days before things calm down. When you are in the middle of such suffering everything around you ceases to exist except the cry and utterance of your own heart. I know that when I reached such a level I could not hear God during this time. And when my pain had lessened I asked God, "Where did you go?" "I was always there for you but the severity of your pain prevented you from hearing me."

Now Christ, while on the cross, cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" There have been so many interpretations of that scripture over the years that I have heard. But one I have never heard before is that Jesus' pain was so intense that the voice he loved to hear was blocked. Now I am not saying my pain came even close to what Christ suffered but that really is the point. If my light suffering could block me from hearing God how much greater must Christ have suffered?

Evil Spirits

 This section could be the largest but I will use but one illustration. Most days I headed off to bed around 4 PM to pray and seek God for 4-5 hours. One particular afternoon a 'spiritual' leader had come to pray for me in the midst of my suffering. I allowed him to lay hands on me, pray for me, and this day I headed off to pray immediately after. For three hours I prayed and prayed and my mind was a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. There was a wall between God and I that had never been there to this degree. Finally after pushing and prodding against the wall I gained a breakthrough. I asked God, "What just happened?" He told me this particular person had a controlling spirit and when they lay hands on me they transferred it to me. So I had been wrestling with this spirit for the last three hours as it tried to hinder me in my relationship with God.

Fear and Doubt

 Those two spirits are probably the most pernicious and tenacious of the lot. As familiar spirits they know the way you act and think in just about any conceivable situation. And yet I can say from experience that for months I would pray each night and the first hours of that time were spent just dealing with doubt and fear. Of course it was God who spent that time repeating to me over and over again that it was going to be okay. That I didn't need to worry. That He was with me. Basic things when I think about it now but important for the person who is learning to hear His voice. Essential in fact. It is my opinion that the beginning prayer person must learn to heed Gods quiet voice to overcome those hindering spirits. Why? Because the relationship with God can never develop as long as there is fear or doubt. In fact I can say I know they are spirits because now they have very little impact on me anymore. So when I pray I'm no longer spending hours dealing with any negative thoughts. For the longer you spend with God the more you start to hear the moment you begin to listen.

Tradition

 I have talked about tradition but never quite along these lines of how it truly hinders us in our hearing from God. When God showed me that we had reached a turning point in our relationship and that I had to decide to take Him out of the box I was shocked. Two main reasons is because I didn't see the box and two is I was afraid too. For several days I could not decide what I needed to do. How could I go against tradition? It was comfortable, easy to understand. But what decided me is during this time I couldn't hear God. It was as if He had stopped talking. And I realized how much more my relationship meant to me then any moldy traditions of the church or of men. I wanted a living God and when I repented and told God I wanted it all the intimacy returned.

The Law

Some may see little difference but God made it clear that this was one of the most powerful hindrances of all. God helped me see that the church today, even well established Christians, have turned to the law to replace the lack of intimacy with Him. For when there is no spiritual freedom there must be rules and laws to replace them. Most cannot see it because they are so intent on protecting their concept of the faith. God showed me the best way to protect your faith is by allowing God to move in and through you. For where there is true freedom the grace of Christ abounds.

Submitting

What all the above have in common is the word submission. Whether it is fear, tradition, the law, spirits and so on they all have the ability to prevent you from walking in intimacy with God. As such the only way to overcome that is by being persistent.

 I just happen to be in another period of spiritual blockage where I can hear God but it is as if through static. So what do you do when you have done everything you can think of? Where you have not sinned, not given in to fear, not submitted to any person, idea or box. Where you have continued to pray and yet those prayers continue to be blocked? It is at times like these when you've done all you can think of that you must be persistent. Perhaps the greatest mistake of Christians today is that they get blocked and they give up. I have learned that God will come through for me 100% of the time if I will just keep seeking, asking, knocking. I have not learned all the hindrances as yet. But I do know one thing. God has always proven faithful and will always reveal to me what is holding me back from hearing Him.

 So do I have a hint of what is blocking our relationship? It is true I spent most of the day in pain with a twisted neck. Another possible thought is this past week I spent most of my prayer time doing most of the talking as I sought God for answers. Then God pointed out to me that I was not going to change His timing of things and to let go and Let Him. I backed off and returned to striving to hear His voice. But this time the clarity was gone. I repented of being so pushy but I don't even know if that is the issue anymore. What I have found with God is if I will remain faithful He will show me exactly what has hindered me. And in every case so far it is a problem that is common to the church or to man. So I don't really worry even though I love the true, unbroken relationship with God the Father. Knowing He will never leave me or forsake me.